Active clinical trials for "Spinal Cord Diseases"

To use advanced imaging techniques, including MRI Brain and Spinal Cord, and MRI/PET Spinal Cord to provide an assessment of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy to improve understanding of the pathophysiology and natural history of DCM.

This pilot study will determine the feasibility of implementing a combinatory rehabilitation strategy involving testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) with locomotor training (LT; walking on a treadmill with assistance and overground walking) in men with testosterone deficiency and walking dysfunction after incomplete or complete spinal cord injury. The investigators hypothesize that LT+TRT treatment will improve muscle size and bone mineral density in men with low T and ambulatory dysfunction after incomplete or complete SCI, along with muscle fundtion and walking recovery in men with T low and ambulatory dysfunction ater incomplete SCI.

The purpose of this research study is to compare the effect of two different types of education and support programs for partner caregivers of people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Spinal cord associative plasticity (SCAP) is a combined cortical and spinal electrical stimulation technique developed to induce recovery of arm and hand function in spinal cord injury. The proposed study will advance understanding of SCAP, which is critical to its effective translation to human therapy. The purpose of the study is to: Determine whether signaling through the spinal cord to the muscles can be strengthened by electrical stimulation. Improve our understanding of the spinal cord and how it produces movement. Determine whether spinal surgery to relieve pressure on the spinal cord can improve its function. Aim 1 is designed to advance mechanistic understanding of spinal cord associative plasticity (SCAP). Aim 2 will determine whether SCAP increases spinal cord excitability after the period of repetitive pairing. In rats, SCAP augments muscle activation for hours after just 5 minutes of paired stimuli. Whereas Aims 1 and 2 focused on the effects of paired stimulation in the context of uninjured spinal cord, Aim 3 assesses whether paired stimulation can be effective across injured cord segments. Aim 3 will incorporate the experiments from Aim 1 and 2 but in people with SCI, either traumatic or pre-operative patients with myelopathy in non-invasive experiments, or targeting myelopathic segments in intraoperative segments.

Successful ambulation at home and in the community is the main goal of gait training after incomplete spinal cord injury. Many different treatment approaches have been recommended to achieve this goal. One established intervention to achieve that in a clinical setting is body weight supported (BWS) treadmill training. However, recent studies have suggested that the most optimal gait training should be conducted overground with appropriate support conditions to enable a physiological gait pattern. The training has to be challenging and patients must participate as active as possible. In addition becoming a functional walker in real world involves a variety of walking skills like walking on uneven surfaces, walking up and down slopes, climbing stairs and avoid obstacles. It has been shown in humans as well as in animals that greater improvements are achieved in walking function if the training is task specific. Thus a constrained task like BWS treadmill training may not be the optimal training intervention to become a functional community walker. Even greater improvements can be expected if patients feel safe during the overground walking and train at their individual limits. With FLOAT there is now the possibility to conduct a task specific BWS overground gait training in a safe environment. The robotic device allows patients to perform different walking tasks like walking overground, avoiding obstacles, walking on uneven and sloped surfaces, climbing stairs, walking in narrow spaces. A virtual reality setup was integrated into the system that even can simulate specific walking tasks like target oriented walking or walking in crowded environment. Based on the promising results seen in preclinical and clinical research, the investigators assume that unrestricted transparent BWS overground training that allows task specific training of real world walking tasks will induce greater improvements than conventional BWS treadmill training. The investigators will compare the effect of an intensive 4 weeks unrestricted BWS overground gait training to 4 weeks of intensive BWS treadmill training. Not only functional outcome like walking speed or capacity will be assessed but also detailed kinematics that will help to identify the mechanisms of the underlying improvements in walking function.

The objectives of this study are to (1) determine the effects of neuromodulation techniques on mobility in persons with chronic SCI, as measured by subjective and objective measures, and (2) to determine the optimal combination of techniques that modify mobility and movement in an individual. The neuromodulation techniques explored will be methods of electromagnetic stimulation - that is, electrical stimulation and magnetic stimulation.

The purposes of this study is to assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of MT-3921 in subjects with Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1)-Associated Myelopathy(HAM). Subjects meeting eligibility criteria will enter the 6-month double-blind period. Subjects will be randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive MT-3921 or placebo in a double blind manner.

The purpose of this study is firstly to determine the efficacy of cervical plate for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion using cervical cage, and secondly to investigate the determining factors for surgical outcomes.

Patients arriving to rehabilitation up to 2 months following SCI will be given (study group) or not (control group) Lyrica (75X2). They will be followed for central pain development.

Several studies have implicated involvement of sigma-1 receptors (SR1s) in the generation of chronic pain, while others are investigating anti SR1 drugs for treatment of chronic pain. Using [18F]-FTC-146 and positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI), the investigators hope to identify the source of pain generation in patients with chronic pain. The purpose of this study is to compare the uptake of [18F]FTC-146 in healthy volunteers to that of individuals suffering from chronic pain.